Once in three lifetimes

Bratvolds triple winners in moose license lottery

By Jerry W. Kram

North Dakota hunters are well aware that the odds of getting a once-in-a-lifetime moose license are pretty long. Some hunters have put in for the license every year for decades only to be disappointed. A young New Town man was lucky enough to be drawn on his very first try this year. It might have been expected, as he comes from lucky stock. Dougie Bratvold is the third generation in his family to snag one of the rare permits.

Dougie, 15, was accompanied with some experienced guides on his hunt. His grandfather, Warren Bratvold had his opportunity for a moose hunt about 20 years ago in Pembina County. His father Doug got his moose about 10 years later. The first day of their hunt they went north to near the Candian border.

"We found one moose laying down in a draw," Warren said. "Dougie didn’t want to shoot that one because it was too small. I was thinking, if you have a moose in your sights, shoot the thing. But after we started talking about it, we were lucky we didn’t shoot it because we would have had a heck of a time getting it out of there. We spent about 10 minutes looking at it. That was about 10 a.m. the first day."